Investigating the relationships between emotional experiences and behavioral responses amid the Covid-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey
Tingting Wang
School of Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), Investigation (lead), Methodology (lead), Project administration (lead), Supervision (lead), Validation (lead), Visualization (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorXin Zheng
School of Business, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorZhaomeng Niu
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorPengwei Hu
Merck China Innovation Hub, Shanghai, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Ruiqi Dong
Fordham University, New York, New York, USA
Correspondence: Ruiqi Dong, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorZhihan Tang
Medical College, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Funding acquisition (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorTingting Wang
School of Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), Investigation (lead), Methodology (lead), Project administration (lead), Supervision (lead), Validation (lead), Visualization (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorXin Zheng
School of Business, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorZhaomeng Niu
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorPengwei Hu
Merck China Innovation Hub, Shanghai, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Ruiqi Dong
Fordham University, New York, New York, USA
Correspondence: Ruiqi Dong, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorZhihan Tang
Medical College, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Funding acquisition (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Validation (equal), Visualization (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The Covid-19 pandemic produced a complex combination of intense negative emotions among the general public, influencing people's coping reactions toward the pandemic. Yet each discrete emotion may affect people's behaviors in different ways. Unveiling the specific emotion–behavior relationships can provide valuable implications for designing effective intervention programs. Through the lens of the appraisal theory of emotion, we assessed the relationships between negative emotions and pandemic-related behaviors among the Chinese population midst the early outbreak of the pandemic. An anonymous online survey was distributed to mainland Chinese participants (n = 2976), which assessed individuals' emotional states and behavioral reactions to the pandemic. Consistent with the differential appraisal theme underlying each negative emotion as delineated by the appraisal theory, mixed relationships between emotions and pandemic-related behaviors were revealed. Specifically, anxiety was positively associated with behaviors of seeking pandemic-related information, sharing such information, and stockpiling preventive goods, yet, contrary to prediction, anxious people were reluctant to adopt preventive measures, which is maladaptive. Sad people sought information less frequently and exhibited lower intention to stockpile preventive goods; but, opposing prediction, they shared information less frequently. Angry people were more active in sharing information and in stockpiling preventive goods. These findings suggest that public health practitioners can utilize the emotion–behavior relationships to identify the vulnerable individuals who tend to adopt maladaptive coping behaviors, help them address emotional distress, and encourage their adoption of effective coping behaviors.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data and material are available upon request.
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